The Fighting Tigers, 1893-1993: One Hundred Years of LSU Football

On a cold and cloudy day in November, 1893, the LSU Tigers football squad took the field for its first game. Relying heavily on the "turtle back" and "flying wedge," the fledgling team weathered a grueling ninety-minute struggle against intrastate rival Tulane. That day marked the beginning of one of the grandest traditions in all of intercollegiate athletics, a tradition that is now one hundred years old. In this newly revised edition of his exhaustive history of Tiger football, veteran sports columnist and editor Peter Finney brings the story up to date, with new material on LSU's football fortunes (and misfortunes) since 1980.
Here, in almost game-by-game detail, are accounts of the coaching tenures of Jerry Stovall, who was brought on in 1980 after the newly hired Bo Rein's tragic and mysterious death in a plane crash; Bill Arnsparger, who led the Tigers to the SEC championship in 1986; Mike Archer, who despite early success resigned in 1991, following two successive losing seasons; and Curley Hallman, the current coach. Finney recounts the impressive exploits of such standout players of the recent past as Jeff Wickersham, Dalton Hilliard, Wendell Davis, and Tommy Hodson. He also describes the pressures that led to the replacement of Paul Dietzel by Bob Brodhead as athletic director, Brodhead's subsequent dismissal in the middle of the 1986 season, and the appointment of the current AD, Joe Dean.
Finney has retained the well-loved anecdotes of the previous editions, such as those about Huey Long, whose enthusiasm for the Tigers was so intense that he stalked the sidelines, marched at the head of parades, and even invited some players to live at the Governor's Mansion, there to be fed a steady diet of sour milk, cornbread, and turnip greens. He also recounts the thrilling bowl teams of the 1930s, the Cinderella team of 1949, and Paul Dietzel's National Championship team of 1958.
The Appendix contains completely updated listings of week-by-week schedules and scores for every season from 1893 through 1992, records of all twenty-eight Tiger head coaches, a complete list of LSU lettermen, modern individual and team records in all categories, a list of players elected to all-America and academic all-America teams, and much more.
The Fighting Tigers, 1893-1993 is an essential book for anyone who loves Tiger football. Even those who own one or both of the earlier editions will want this special edition, both for the wealth of new information it provides and for its commemorative value.